Convertible chair



w. H. MURPHY CONVERTIBLE CHAIR July 21, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July5, 1947 hi j? July 21, 1953 w. H. MURPHY CONVERTIBLE CHAIR 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 5, 1947' Patented July 21, 1953 UNITED ISTATES PATENT OFFICE CONVERTIBLE CHAIR William H. Murphy, Chicago, Ill.1

Application July 5, 1947, Serial No. 759,207,

3 Claims. (01. 155-112) 1 a The present invention relates to chairs, andmore particularly to a chair of convertible type.

As background for the present invention, attention is called to the factthat it is now customary to build upholstered chairs with and withoutarms, and in some cases with a single arm at the right-hand side and inother cases with the arm at the left-hand side. The reason for this isthat the chair with two arms is used singly in the ordinary mannerwhereas a chair having one left-hand arm may be used with a chair havingone right-hand arm to make a sofa of short length. If desired these twochairs may be separated by a sufficient distance to permit the insertionof a chair with no arms so as to make a sofa of longer length. Theadvantage of this arrangement is that it promote flexibility in that thechairs may be used to form either a long Or short sofa or may beseparated into individual chairs. The disadvantage of course is thatwhen the chairs are separated, they are conspicuously different, alsothey are not universally interchange able withthe result that there is aconsiderable limitation on the possible groupings. Further, of

. course, there is a manufacturing and sales problem since a certainmodel or pattern of chair when constructed to be used in groups of thistype will need to be built with a right-hand arm, with a left-hand arm,with no arms at all and with both arms, thereby requiring the making andstocking of four different types of chairs.

With the above in mind, it is the principal object of the presentinvention to provide a novel single chair which may be used in suchmanner as to provide a chair having two arms; or a chair having one armat either side, or a chair having no arms at all.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide anupholstered chair of new type which may be manufactured at lower costthan chairs of similar style and quality previously manufactured.

Yet another object is to provide av novel chair having arms which may beraised or lowered and which blend well enough with the remaining portionof the chair'in either position so that it is not apparent that the armsare movable.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a new typechair so arranged that it may be manufactured as sub-assemblies whichare later secured together at comparatively low cost to give thecompleted article.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the followingdescription of a preferred embodiment of my invention which is Iillustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, in which similar characters of reference refer tosimilar parts throughout the several views:

Fig. 1 is a right front perspective view ofa chair embodying the presentinvention shown with the arms in the lowered position;

Fig. 2 is a similar perspective view showing a short sofa or love seatcomposed of two of the chairs of the type shown inFig. 1; in the view ofFig. 2 the adjacent armsof the two chairs are in the raised positionwhereas the outward arms are both lowered; I 4

Fig. 3 is an elevational view of the chair as seen from the front withthe upholstery shown in phantom, and with the arms in the raisedposition;

Fig. 4 is a side view of the chair showing the construction thereof;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view showing a detail of theconstruction and may be considered as taken in the direction of thearrows substantially along the line 5-5 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a sectional View which may be considered as taken in thedirection of the arrows substantially along the line 6-6 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 7 is a vertical sectional view which may be considered as takeninthe direction of the arrows substantially along the line 1-1 of Fig. 5.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings, it will be seen that the chairthere shown comprises a seat portion It supported upon legs 24 and thatthe seat portion at the rearward edge carries a back -14 at each side ofwhich is pivoted an arm l6.

Since the two sides of the chair are reverse complements of each other,only one of the arms andthe associated mechanism need be described inplete arrangement.

The base or seat portion i comprised of a pair of wooden side rails l8and. similar back and front rails 20 and 22 respectively, the ends ofwhich are mortised and glued into the upper portions of vertical legs 24which extend downwardly to support the base from the floor. For allpractical purposes the four legs may be considered as identical althoughthe rear legs slope backwardly somewhat in conventional manner. Thisopen work box is fitted with springs and padded and upholstered in theusual manner so as to provide what is essentially an ottoman. The baseportion as just described may be fabricated as an individualsubassembly.

The back portion comprises a pair of upright wooden side rails 26 whichcarry a top cross piece 28 at the upper ends thereof and a lower crossmember 30 at an intermediate point which, in the :to the outer member 40of the arm 16.

arm and tube 46 are therefore free to pivot relacurved slot 58.

assembled article, is just above the top of the ottoman portion. Foradditional support, a vertical strip 32 extends between the top andbottom members 28 and 30 at the center thereof.

The side rails 26 extend downwardly beyond the lower cross member 30 soas to provide a pair of brackets 34 which are secured to the rearwardbase member 20 by means of screws or other fastening means. The lowerportions of the side rail 26 are cut at an angle so as to support theback [4 at a comfortable degree of inclination with respect to the baseIn. In order to give additional strength and rigidity to the back, across tially unbroken excepting for the beading or trim at the edge ofthe arm and at the edge of the back portion. In order to carry out thedesign effect thus produced throughout the chair, it may be desirable toextend this beading or trim in a line from front to back across the seatcushion as shown at 50 in Figs. 1 and 2. When the arm is rotated so asto bring the pin 56 against the opposite end of the slot 58, the arm isin the lowered position as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The inclination ofthe arm when in this position is such as will be most comfortable to auser of the chair.

member 36 extends between the side rails 26 and is secured thereto inany suitable manner, such as by mortising the ends of the cross member38 into the side rails 26. The board 35 in the assembled chair lies flatagainst the base member and is secured thereto by screws 38.

In assembling the chair, the back 14, after being upholstered, islocated properly with respect to the base and is secured to the base byscrews 38 as previously mentioned, and subsequently a block or fillerstrip 39 is secured to the base-'1 board 28 and extends between thebracket portions 34 of the side rails 26 so as to fill out the space atthe back of the chair and give the intermediate portion of theback ofthe base portion the same conformation as the bracket members 34. stripof upholstering material is applied so as After this block has beenlocated, a small to cover this block and the end brackets 34.

By referring to Fig; 3, it will be seen that the back is considerablynarrower than the base portion but is centered relatively thereto andthat considering the right-hand side, for instance, theside edge of theback is ofiset inwardly from the side edge of the base portion by anamount equal substantially to the width of the arm l6. This arm isconstructed of two wooden side members wand 42 spaced from each other anappropriate distance by blocks 44 at the ends thereof.

" As shown the block 44 at the outward end of the has a mounting flange50 intermediate its ends. A portion of this sleeve extends outwardlythrough a drilled opening in the side rail 28 at a point above the topof the base portion a distance slightly greater than half the thicknessof the arm, the flange 50 being secured to the side rail by screws 52 sothat the bearing sleeve 48 is rigidly mounted. The tube 46 at its outerend is welded or otherwise suitably secured to a mounting plate orflange 54 which is fastened by screws or bolts The tive to the sleeve48.

Rotation of the arm is limited by a cross pin 55 which extendstransversely through the tube is and moves therewith within a preferablyWhen the pin 56 is at one end of the slot 58, the arm i6 is in the fullyretracted position. The contour of the lower surface of the 7 arm issuch that the upholstery material extending from side to side across theback portion and across the lower surface of the arm is substan-Although slot 58 is shown as curved, it may if desired be made straight.The reason for forming this slot as a curve is that by so doing theedges of the slot act as a cam against the pin 56 so as to cause the armto move outwardly and then back inwardly when the arm is swung from onelimiting position to the other. This has the advantage of reducing thewear on the upholstery material which covers the inner surface of thearm and the outer edge of the back. Also, of course, it makes themovement of the arm more free.

It will be noticed that when the arm is in the raised position, at eachside of the chair, the legs 24 and the side rail E8 of the base portionare in substantially a vertical plane which is at right angles to thefront edge of the base, and that this vertical plane is continued alongthe outer edges of the arms. This is desirable because as best shown inFig. 2, when the arms are in the raised position and two or more chairsare placed side by side to make a sofa, it is desirable that no openspace show between the outer edges or the arms or bases of adjacentchairs.

The arms of the two types, that is, right-hand and left-hand, may beseparately fabricated and equipped with the pivot tube 46 and thenupholstered. Subsequently the tube 6 is slid into the bearing sleeve ,8and the pin 56 fixed in place before the upholstery material at therearward side of the back portion is completely 'secured.

If it is intended that chairs of this type are to be used upon occasionin side by side relationship so as to comprise a sofa, it is anadvantage to provide suitable clips or other fasteners which may be usedto secure adjacent chairs rigidly together. This refinement, although anadvantage under certain conditions, is of course not essential to asuccessful utilization of the present invention.

From the above description of a preferred embodiment of my invention, itwill be apparent that a chair constructed as described fulfills all ofthe objectives set forth for it at an earlier portion of thespecification, and further that modification may be made in thestructure without departing from the spirit of the invention or thescope of the appended claims.

,I claim:

1. An upholstered chair comprising a base portion, said portion beingupholstered to provide an ottoman, a back portion attached to the baseportion as a unit, a pair of arms pivoted to the back portion at a pointabove the base p01'- tion and movable from a substantially verticalposition to a substantially horizontal position, stop means to preventupward and backward movement of said arm beyond positions wherein thelower surfaces of said arms are flush with the front surface of saidback, stop means to prevent movement of said arms downwardly beyondpositions where they serve as arm rests, and means for moving said armsoutwardly and subsequently inwardly during movement of said arms betweenthe limiting positions.

2. An upholstered chair comprising a rectangular base portion havingvertical side edges and a back portion extending upwardly therefrom,said back portion being narrower than said base portion and centeredrelatively thereto, and a pair of arms adapted to fill the spacesbetween the edges of said back portion and the edges of said seatportion, and pivot means attaching the inner ends of said arms to thesides of said back portionsaid pivot means providing for arcuatemovement of said arms between two terminal positions, said pivot meanshaving camming members for moving said arms outwardly and thenceinwardly when said arms are swung between the terminal positions.

3. An upholstered chair comprising a base portion, said base portionhaving vertical rightand left-hand sides perpendicular to the frontedge, an upholstered back secured to said base and inclined upwardlywith respect thereto, said back being narrower than aid base andcentered relative thereto, a pair of upholstered arms, and structurespivotally connecting said arms to the back at a point adjacent the baseportion for 'movement from a substantially vertical position to asubstantially horizontal position, said arms being of suflicient widthto extend'from the edges of the back tothe planes of the sides of thebase so that the sides of the base and the outer sides of the arm whenin vertical position lie within Vertical planes, said structurescomprising a flanged tubular member secured in each side of said back ona horizontal transverse axis and covered by the upholstery materialonsaid back, a rod-like member extending through and fitted to saidtubular member, said rod-like member extending into the side of said armand being rigidly secured thereto, said tubular member within said backbeing formed to provide a circumferential slot extending through theside wall thereof, a cross-pin extending through said slot and into saidrod-like member and abutting against one end of said slot when said armis in an up position with the lower side thereof flush with the frontsurface of said back and against the other end of said slot when saidarm is in a down position to constitute an arm rest, and said slot beingcurved toward said arm intermediate the ends thereof to cause said pinand said rodlike member to move transversely first outwardly and theninwardly relative to said back when said arm is moved between saidpositions to avoid excessive wear of the upholstery material on thecontiguous faces of said back and said arm.

WILLIAM H. MURPHY.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSNumber. Name Date 160,651 Cost Mar. 9, 1875 1,835,947, Johannsen Dec. 8,1931 2,087,574 Kaufer' July 20, 1937 2,145,669 Thompson Jan. 31, 19392,252,970 Gedris Aug. 19, 1941

